memeorandum: The mystery of Jerry Brown's pension (Brian Joseph/Orange County Register)

7:25 PM ET, August 14, 2010

Top Items:

Obama narrows mosque defense — Speaking to reporters today, President Obama drew a sharp line under his comments last night, insisting that his defense of the right to build a mosque does not mean he supports the project. — “I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, The Last Tradition, Riehl World View, Althouse, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Weasel Zippers, Freedom's Lighthouse, Outside the Beltway and FrumForum

The Politico:

Obama's comments take mosque story national — President Barack Obama on Saturday sought to defuse the controversy over his remarks on plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero, insisting that he wasn't endorsing the specific project but making a general plea for religious tolerance toward all.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Pat Dollard, Outside the Beltway, Say Anything, National Review, Gateway Pundit, Pajamas Media, Creeping Sharia, Washington Post and Townhall.com

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

No, Mr. President — Penetrating commentary on President Obama's remarks last night on Islam, 9/11, and Ground Zero is already available. — The lawyers at Powerline dissect Obama's high-flown rhetoric: “a classic of brain-dead multiculturalism,” “the ultimate destination of multiculturalism is platitudinous stupidity.”

Discussion: 9/11 Families …, Bad Rachel, Sister Toldjah, Israel Matzav, Don Surber, Taylor Marsh, protein wisdom, Power Line, Wake up America, Right Wing News, Conservatives4Palin.com, Wall Street Journal, Michelle Malkin and Commentary

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Hear Washington Speak — We now have official Washington's response and take on the President's speech last night stating that Muslim-Americans have every right to build an Islamic center on private property near Ground Zero. It comes in the form of Politico's ubiquitous and closely followed “Playbook” email.

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, Rumproast and Balloon Juice

CNN:

Crist backs Obama on controversial Islamic center — Florida Gov. Charlie Crist backed President Obama Saturday, saying the President's statement on a plan to build a controversial Islamic center and mosque near ground zero was correct. — Panama City, Florida (CNN) - In a boost …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Politics Daily, Macsmind, Connecting.the.Dots, Salon, No More Mister Nice Blog and New York Times

John / Power Line:

Obama's Finest Moment? — Greg Sargent is a left-winger who worked for Editor & Publisher magazine. When that publication went broke, he caught on as a blogger at the Washington Post. Today he hailed President Obama's endorsement of Cordoba House as “One of the finest moments of Obama's presidency.”

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs, Right Wing News, Doug Ross and Pajamas Media

Sean J. Miller / The Hill:

Obama expands on mosque comments, said he supports ‘the right’ to build — Obama said that his statement on Friday didn't express support for the “wisdom” of building a mosque blocks from the 9/11 site. — President Obama expanded on his remarks about the mosque planned near ground zero during his trip to Florida Saturday.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Zandar Versus The Stupid

Edward Wyatt / New York Times:

3 Republicans Criticize Obama's Endorsement of Mosque — WASHINGTON — Three leading Republicans reacted negatively to President Obama's statements in favor of a mosque and Muslim community center whose construction has been proposed for a building near the site formerly occupied by the World Trade Center.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and HotAirPundit

Mike Allen / The Politico:

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? Obama strongly backs ‘Ground Zero’ mosque - Michael Gerson agrees - GOP aide: ‘will drive Middle America crazy’ - W.H. official: ‘inconvenient,’ but Obama wouldn't duck it — E-MAIL FROM AUTUMN: The beautiful and perfect Allie Ross Thomas was born at Sibley Hospital yesterday …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, USA Today, The Plum Line and The Page

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:

Fox Hosts Agree With Obama's Defense Of Mosque: ‘He Has To Stand Up For Our Constitution’ — Reacting to President Obama's forceful defense of Muslims' rights to build a new Islamic community center near Ground Zero, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) — who believes there are “too many mosques in this country” …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Financial Times, The Last Tradition and Mediaite

New York Times:
Obama Says Mosque Remarks Were Not Endorsement

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!

John / Power Line:
An Awful President, A Worse Theologian

Discussion: White House.gov Blog Feed and Weekly Standard

Andy McCarthy / National Review:
9/11 Families Stunned by President's Support of Mosque at Ground Zero

Discussion: The Mahablog, neo-neocon and Fox News

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Obama Strongly Supports Construction of Islamic Center Near Ground Zero

Discussion: Politics Daily, FiveThirtyEight and Bold Faith Type

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Obama Says Mosque Upholds Principle of Equal Treatment

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Confluence, CBS News, CNN, Outside the Beltway, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Hot Air and Zandar Versus The Stupid

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Bush aide backs Obama on mosque

Discussion: The Impolitic, The Washington Note, Washington Monthly, FrumForum, Gawker and The Page

Frank Gaffney / Big Peace:
Obama's Ground Zero Mosque

Discussion: Gates of Vienna, Wintery Knight, National Review and Townhall.com

Rick Moran / Right Wing Nut House:

THE TOP 43 DUMBEST CONSERVATIVE BLOGGERS — Well, perhaps not all 43 of this list of conservative bloggers that John Hawkins polled to get “The Top 25 Worst Americans.” After all, we don't know who voted Barack Obama on to that list over, say, Jeffrey Dahmer.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, mean ol' meany, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Dodgeblogium, American Power and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Jim Geraghty / National Review:
Some of My Fellow Righty Bloggers Need a Broader Definition of ‘Worst Figure’

Matt Lewis / Politics Daily:
Bloggers Matthew Yglesias and John Hawkins Prove Politics Is Broken

Discussion: NewsReal Blog and Hot Air

Steve Bainbridge / ProfessorBainbridge.com:
20 Worst Americans — John Hawkins asked a bunch of right …

Discussion: The Last Tradition, Grasping Reality …, Left Coast Rebel, Right Klik, The Daily Dish, Marginal Revolution, The Volokh Conspiracy, This ain't Hell … and Vox Popoli

Van Helsing / Moonbattery:

Attention Google Moonbats... ...you might want to fix your autocomplete: — On a tip from John Lohman. — If you scroll further, it will say, “Obama is anti-Christ”. — ROFLMAO! — I thought it was a photoshop. Nope. I went to Google and typed it in............... ROFLMAO!

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Macsmind and Proof Positive

Doug Powers / Michelle Malkin:
Helpful Tip for Obamaniacs: Turn Off Google's ‘Auto Complete’ …

Discussion: Say Anything

Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:

American Socialists Release Names of 70 Congressional Democrats in Their Ranks — The Socialist Party of America announced in their October 2009 newsletter that 70 Congressional democrats currently belong to their caucus. — This admission was recently posted on Scribd.com:

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, alicublog, The Political Carnival, Sweetness & Light, Wizbang, Freedom's Lighthouse and Nice Deb

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Collapse — The left is unpopular, undisciplined, and ill-tempered.

Discussion: Pajamas Media and Big Journalism

John Myers / Capital Notes:

$13 Million More In Meg Money — There's a powerful scene in the Oscar winning Forrest Gump that came to mind when the report surfaced tonight showing Meg Whitman has written her campaign a new check for $13 million, bringing her personal investment in the governor's race to a mind numbing $104 million.

Discussion: Ballot Box and Capitol Alert

Brian Joseph / Orange County Register:
The mystery of Jerry Brown's pension

Discussion: Don Surber, Pajamas Media, theblogprof and Capitol Alert

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Burton: Not Obama's role to ‘pass judgment’ — White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton tells Mike Allen that Obama never meant more, or less, than an abstract defense of religious freedom against government intervention: — Just to be clear, the President is not backing off in any way from the comments he made last night.

Discussion: Swampland